


Stuck Together

by lesdemonium (winnerstick), winnerstick



Series: Romtober 2020 [2]
Category: The Witcher (TV), Wiedźmin | The Witcher - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Arguing, Emotionally Constipated Geralt z Rivii | Geralt of Rivia, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Friends to Lovers, Handcuffs, Happy Ending, Jealousy, Love Confessions, M/M, in a not sexy way
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-02
Updated: 2020-10-02
Packaged: 2021-03-07 18:21:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,631
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26772082
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/winnerstick/pseuds/lesdemonium, https://archiveofourown.org/users/winnerstick/pseuds/winnerstick
Summary: After a string of over-blown arguments leads to Geralt and Jaskier not talking to each other, Yennefer and Ciri take drastic measures to force them to communicate.
Relationships: Geralt z Rivii | Geralt of Rivia/Jaskier | Dandelion
Series: Romtober 2020 [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1949827
Comments: 22
Kudos: 444





	Stuck Together

**Author's Note:**

> so sorry to people that subscribed to this when it was a chaptered fic, but i have realized that posting this as a series is a much better way to go. and this, kiddos, is why you should not post fics at 7 am before work. i say as i do the same exact thing.

“No. Absolutely not.”

The door had barely swung open before the words were out of Jaskier’s mouth. Geralt hadn’t even realized Jaskier was there until he spoke, but he looked up just in time to see the pinched expression on Jaskier’s face. Geralt shot a glare Yennefer’s way, but she didn’t even bother to look at him. The glare was much more effective when turned to Ciri, even if Geralt did feel a bit guilty when her expression quickly twisted into shame.

Despite Jaskier’s protest, though, he walked into the apartment with Ciri, and even allowed her to close the door behind them.

“If you wanted to talk to me, you could have just picked up a phone like a normal person and  _ asked, _ Geralt,” Jaskier huffed, crossing his arms over his chest.

Geralt mirrored Jaskier’s posture, though he turned to face the wall instead of his friend. His extremely infuriating friend. “I  _ don’t _ . I didn’t have anything to do with this.”

“You two are ridiculous. Is this actually the example you want to set for Ciri?” Yennefer scolded. “Two grown ass men can’t sort out their problems and just  _ talk to each other _ when they have a fight?”

“When has Geralt ever been able to talk to anyone?” Jaskier fired back. Geralt looked up to see him glaring at Yennefer, though he did also cut a withering glance to Geralt. “I  _ tried _ to talk to him after the initial fight, but he refused. At least, until he called me a ‘talentless hack’ and a ‘waste of precious time and energy’!”

“I did  _ not _ call you either of those things,” Geralt snapped, standing up. 

He stepped closer to Jaskier, now suddenly very interested in reigniting the fight that had been going on for  _ weeks _ now. Fighting with Jaskier was never enjoyable. They were both far too proud, far too stubborn, far too passionate. They often got on like a house on fire, which unfortunately had a tendency of destroying everything in its wake. Lately, though, even Geralt had to admit they had been worse. Shorter with each other, prone to more dramatic outbursts, and having knock out fights starting over nothing that dragged on for entirely too long. Even Geralt didn’t know what was wrong with them. 

Geralt had a feeling that on his end, at least, it had something to do with what he wasn’t saying to Jaskier. But Jaskier had been just as antagonistic as Geralt lately, so surely the blame couldn't fall squarely on Geralt’s shoulders.

“You might as well have!” Jaskier said, and he took a step closer, too. They were practically chest to chest, in what Yennefer had often called a display of extremely unhealthy masculinity. “You all but implied that your life would be better without me in it!”

“I said it would be  _ easier _ if you could solve your own damn problems for once, but trust you to twist my words until they’re unrecognizable. Do you ever actually  _ listen _ to what I tell you?”

Jaskier, who was already prone to making grand gestures and talking with his hands, flapped his hands up and narrowly missed Geralt’s face. Geralt, reacting to try to avoid being  _ hit _ , snatched both of Jaskier’s wrists in midair. Jaskier let out an indignant noise as he tried to pull his hands away, but Geralt did not let go.

A moment later, he wished he had, when Ciri took advantage of their situation to slap a pair of handcuffs on their wrists, cuffing Geralt and Jaskier together.

This made them freeze, and Jaskier’s face was almost comically bewildered as his eyes went wide and he turned to Ciri. His mouth opened and closed a few times before he finally managed a squeaky, “ _ What _ in the  _ world _ are you doing?”

“I told you I’d find an opportunity!” Ciri said proudly to Yennefer. Yennefer appeared to be trying very hard not to burst out laughing.

“Ciri, uncuff us,” Geralt insisted, fixing her with a stern look.

“No.” Her arms crossed and she fixed him with a look so unimpressed that for a moment Geralt thought he was looking into a mirror. What a scary thought that was. “You and Jaskier haven’t been listening to each other. All you do is blow up and yell and say hurtful things and storm off. I won’t be unlocking you two until you work this out.”

“Now, that doesn’t really seem necessary. We’ll be fine, Ciri, we always are,” Jaskier said. He tried to gesture with his hands, now that Geralt had dropped his wrists, but it took just one tug of their joined arms and a dirty look from Geralt for Jaskier to look suitably scolded and put his arm down. “Please let us out.”

“I don’t think you  _ will _ be fine,” Yennefer said. She moved to stand behind Ciri and placed her hands on Ciri’s shoulders. The look she settled on both Jaskier and Geralt with was chiding, and Geralt wasn’t sure why he suddenly felt like a misbehaving child, but they were certainly treating him like one. “This has gone on long enough. It’s time for you two to grow up and talk to each other. You aren’t a far step from saying or doing something you’ll never come back from, and even if you don’t completely sabotage yourselves, your behavior has been  _ exhausting _ to deal with.”

She patted Ciri’s shoulders, then strode toward the door. “Ciri and I will be going to a movie,” Yennefer said, pulling the door open and ushering Ciri through it. “You will have this fixed by the time we return, or you will be sleeping in those.”

The door closed and for a long moment, both men were silent, staring dumbfounded at where Yennefer had been standing.

“This is all your fault, you know.” Of course Jaskier would be the one to break the silence.

“How do you figure that?” Geralt scoffed.

“Because  _ you’re  _ the one that refuses to communicate with me. Grunts and hums don’t tell me shit, Geralt, and you have a hair-trigger temper!” Jaskier pointed a finger accusingly at Geralt. Geralt imagined smacking it away, but refrained.

“ _ I _ have a hair-trigger temper? You went from completely calm to yelling at me last week when I suggested you used a word wrong in that song you were writing!” 

“Well you were  _ wrong _ and I wasn’t asking for criticism! You can’t interrupt my process with unsolicited advice while I’m still on the  _ first draft _ of the damned thing!” Jaskier swung his hands up, bringing Geralt’s arm with him, and didn’t even look the least bit apologetic about it, despite Geralt’s pointed glare. Geralt tugged his own arm back harshly. “If you could stop being such an insufferable know-it-all for  _ ten seconds _ and instead talk about what’s  _ actually _ bothering you, maybe we would be able to work some of this out  _ before _ we get handcuffed together!”

“Well  _ maybe _ ,” Geralt grumbled back, “If you would stop storming off the moment we have a disagreement, we could actually resolve some of them! But instead you get all huffy and run off and every new fight just rolls off the last one. Maybe they decided on handcuffs to stop  _ you _ .”

“Well what do you propose we do about this now?” Jaskier asked, crossing his arms. Geralt grunted and pulled his own arm away, and Jaskier huffed in return as his arms were uncrossed. “Stop moving my arm about like I’m a puppet!”

“Stop  _ making me _ ,” Geralt answered. “I  _ propose _ we find a way out of these handcuffs.”

Ten minutes later found Geralt storming around the apartment looking for something, anything, that would break through the handcuffs. Unfortunately, they were real, rather than cheap plastic or metal, and it seemed as if Yennefer or Ciri had the keys. What they were doing with real, sturdy handcuffs, he didn’t want to know, but he was sure that nothing short of bolt cutters would get them free. Jaskier trailed along behind as Geralt stomped around, offering extremely unhelpful and often pessimistic comments about the unlikelihood of Geralt’s newest plan working.

“At least I’m doing  _ something _ , Jaskier,” Geralt finally exploded after he had heard  _ enough _ of Jaskier’s grousing. “Can you do something helpful, instead of just bitching about everything under the sun? Or just shut the hell up?”

Jaskier harrumphed, but at least fell silent. Now, the only sound in the apartment was Geralt throwing open cabinets and drawers and grunting his frustration, while Jaskier silently followed along. Somehow, this was worse.

Geralt slammed a final drawer open with what he honestly had to call a  _ growl _ , before scrubbing his free hand down his face. The keys were not here, and there was nothing that was going to free them, short of dislocating his own thumb and potentially scraping off half his skin. As much as Geralt did not want to be trapped with Jaskier for at least another hour and a half, he had to admit that damaging his hand was a bit of an overreaction.

“So, you’re done, then?” Jaskier asked, and Geralt could have thrown something at him. “Great, can we go sit down, then?”

They went back to the couch and they both fell heavily onto it. They sat at opposite ends, their arms stretched as far as they could while still being somewhat comfortable, and Geralt rested his chin in his hand, propped up on the arm rest. 

“Gods, is being stuck with me for two hours really that terrible?” Jaskier asked after a long moment. 

Jaskier let out a laugh that Geralt was sure was supposed to convey levity, but just made Jaskier sound nervous. Hurt, even. Geralt turned his head to look at Jaskier, who was staring down at the hand in his lap, an expression of such schooled stoicism on his face that Geralt almost wanted to know what Jaskier would have looked like if Geralt  _ wasn’t _ staring.

“Before we could hang out for hours before you told me to shut up. Now it’s like the moment I open my mouth, you wish I was gone.” He turned, resting his own elbow on the armrest, chin in hand and faced as far from Geralt as he could go with his binding. “I just wish I knew what went wrong. I can’t just… turn it off. Believe me, I’ve tried.”

The silence that followed was uncomfortable. Geralt knew it was his turn to break it, that Jaskier had already taken his turn in trying to bridge the gap, but it was hard to form the words. There was so much he wanted to say in response to Jaskier’s question and following statement, but he wasn’t sure if he  _ could _ . Apparently, he had taken too long, though, because beside him Jaskier let out a sigh.

“Just--forget it. It doesn’t matter. We’ll just… sit here in uncomfortable silence until they get back, and then I'll get out of your hair.”

“It’s not,” Geralt finally said.

“It’s--what?” Jaskier asked. His head began to turn, then abruptly stopped as his shoulders tensed. “What’s not? Not what?”

“Being stuck with you for two hours,” Geralt answered. “It’s not terrible.”

Jaskier snorted and shook his head just slightly. “Sure could have fooled me.”

“I don’t know how to talk to you anymore. I… have a lot of things I want to say. All at once. So I don’t say any of them.” Geralt’s voice was soft now. He felt stupid, talking like this. He wasn’t even making any sense. Jaskier would just be confused, and would want Geralt to explain further, but Geralt wasn’t sure he knew how to.

“Anymore? Nothing  _ changed _ . I don’t understand why you would suddenly lose the ability to talk to me. And this has been going on for a  _ while _ . Since… since…”

“Since the Countess.”

Jaskier stopped for a moment, then finally turned to face Geralt, his eyebrows furrowed. “Since the Countess,” he agreed. “But, Geralt--What does she have to do with anything? We broke up for good  _ months _ ago.”

Geralt shrugged and tried to look away, but Jaskier tugged on their bound wrists insistently until Geralt’s irritation built enough for him to scowl back at Jaskier. Jaskier looked unamused--his lips were pursed as he raised his eyebrows and dipped his chin meaningfully at Geralt.

“We’re finally getting somewhere here. You can’t close off on me  _ now _ ,” Jaskier said, sounding exasperated.

“Things were. You were serious, with her. I thought that was  _ it  _ for you.” Geralt’s face grew hot as he spoke, and he had to look away again. Straight ahead, as if the wall was the most interesting thing he had seen for a long time.

Jaskier did not seem to care that Geralt was embarrassed. He turned more to face Geralt head on, and inched closer until his knee was just  _ barely _ avoiding touching Geralt’s thigh. “Why would that mean you’re not able to talk to me? Because I was in a relationship? That’s kind of shit, Geralt. You and Yennefer were pretty serious for a while, and nothing changed between us. Besides, Virginia and I  _ broke up _ .”

Fucking Jaskier. He wanted specifics, and Geralt didn’t know if he could give him that.  _ Honesty _ about his  _ feelings _ was not something Geralt was particularly skilled at.

“I… didn’t like you two together.”

“I’m really not sure, one, why you wouldn’t have voiced your concerns earlier, or two, how that was any of your business. But. That doesn’t exactly matter, considering we broke up. Why didn’t things go back to normal, then?” Jaskier’s voice was so serious, so confused, as if he was trying to solve a particularly difficult puzzle. Geralt didn’t understand how he wasn’t  _ getting this. _ Jaskier was supposed to understand implicit, nebulous ideas.

“Because I had already realized  _ why _ I didn’t like you two together. And why I didn’t like any of the people you rebounded with after.” 

“And why was that?” Jaskier asked. Geralt scowled, and Jaskier snorted. “Geralt, I know you think you’re bearing your soul to me right now, but all I’m getting is you talking around something. Careful, if you don’t throw me more of a bone, I’m going to jump to the conclusion that you were  _ jealous _ of Virginia or the other people I’ve hooked up with since.”

Geralt didn’t answer, just stared up at the ceiling until he heard Jaskier gasp beside him. Jaskier scooted closer.

“Geralt,” Jaskier said, insistently. Geralt grunted. “Geralt, look at me.” Geralt did, and immediately clammed up at just how  _ earnest _ and  _ awed _ Jaskier looked. “Geralt, do you want to go out with me?”

The question was met with a scowl and a groan, and Geralt looked away again, only for Jaskier to place a hand on Geralt’s upper arm.

“No, I’m sorry, I was--I wasn’t clarifying, I was  _ asking _ . Would you go on a date with me? Like. As soon as possible. Immediately.” Now, his soft, breathy laugh sounded a bit embarrassed. “I didn’t--I didn’t know this was on the table. If I had, I would have asked you out a lot sooner, we could’ve worked out whatever aggression in a  _ much _ more fun way, if you catch my meaning--”

“Yes, Jaskier,” Geralt interrupted, just to get him to shut up. “I want to go on a date. Just  _ stop _ .”

Jaskier laughed and nodded, scooting forward again until he was practically hanging off Geralt’s arm. Geralt met his eyes again, faced with a wicked grin.

“We  _ could _ get a head start, if you wanted. On date-like activities,” Jaskier suggested.

When Yennefer and Ciri returned almost two hours later, Yennefer threw the keys at them and told them to get a room, only to usher Ciri back out the door groaning something about  _ Men _ . Geralt and Jaskier barely noticed.


End file.
